‘Doctor Who’ star Matt Smith signs on for pivotal role in ‘Terminator: Genesis’

It's interesting when you can tell from a press release that the studio is being very careful about what they say.

“[Matt] Smith will play a new character with a strong connection to John Connor,” is how they phrased it in the announcement today, “alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Clarke, Emilia Clarke, Jai Courtney, J.K. Simmons, Dayo Okeniyi, and Byung Hun Lee.”

To be fair, they're being very careful about everything involving this film and the cast. They've revealed some basic information. We know that Emilia Clarke is Sarah Connor. We know that Jason Clarke is John Connor. We know that Jai Courtney is Kyle Reese. And we know that Dayo Okeniyi is playing Danny Dyson, the son of Miles Dyson, the man credited with creating Skynet in “Terminator 2: Judgment Day”.

But beyond that, it seems like people are still trying to make sense of what the film is and when it takes place. There are actually three major time frames in the film. It opens in the future in the final days of the war with Skynet, particularly centered around the moment where Skynet sent the first Terminator back to 1984 and John Connor sent Kyle Reese to stop him. There's a pretty big chunk that's set in 1984, and while it's familiar at moments, this is a very different 1984 than we saw in James Cameron's original movie. There's also a third time, but I won't reveal if it's before or after 1984. It's in that third time that we're going to meet Matt Smith's character, and where it will become clear what that “strong connection” the press release refers to actually is.

I know I've seemed skeptical about this film in the past, but I'll give them this… they're trying to build something different this time around. We'll see all sorts of different Terminators, and I think there's actually a pretty simple, elegant explanation for why Arnold Schwarzenegger looks like a man in his 50s when he shows up this time. I was prepared to scoff at the visible passage of time, but they've folded it into the way they imagined his character, and it works. It's a totally natural approach, and it allows him to play a different spin on the character he's already played for three other films.

Instead of trying to show us the Future War, a trap I think “Terminator Salvation” fell into, this is a film about what it means to say “no fate but that which we make for ourselves,” and how hard it is to live by that when you're trapped by what feels like destiny. The script by Laeta Kalogridis and Patrick Lussier gives director Alan Taylor a solid starting point, and while Smith's part isn't huge, it is pivotal, and it seems like Taylor has worked hard to find an interesting cast to take one more shot at extending the story that Cameron so neatly wrapped up by the end of his second film.

Production is underway now, and “Terminator: Genesis” will be in theaters July 1, 2015.

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Question, Drew: are they going to incorporate any of the Sarah Conner Chronicles into this film, or acknowledge its existence?

Or does this film completely obliterate that particular timeline / alternate universe?

If so in any way, I wonder if Smith has any relation to any SCC characters.

If no, then no biggie either way.

By: Drake

05.02.2014 @ 7:39 PM

Smith’s involvement has got me interested. I’ve never seen any of the Terminator films, but I’m probably going to see this one.

By: Brian S

05.03.2014 @ 8:17 PM

You’re going to start with this one? Do yourself a favor and start with the first two Cameron-directed films… the only ones that really needed to be made. Anything else is a pale shadow of the greatness of those films.

By: Drake

05.04.2014 @ 6:33 PM

Well, we don’t know that THIS one will be a pale shadow of the greatness of those films. This one could be the best one in the series, we won’t know for a couple years. But isn’t this going to be a reboot in the vein of Star Trek anyway? Seems like people unfamiliar with the series will be able to go in to this one with no prior knowledge needed.

By: Brian S

05.05.2014 @ 1:50 AM

Anything is possible @DRAKE. I don’t go into any film hoping to hate it. I’m hoping this is a film worthy of the Terminator name. I’m of the opinion that Cameron told a complete story with the first two, but anyone is welcome to disagree. I’m not sure if this is a complete reboot; I think they might be using specific elements from the original film to build a new continuity, based on the article above and others I’ve read. We’ll see…

By: Ben Kabak

05.05.2014 @ 4:18 PM

Always weird when someone who comes to geek sites like this and takes time to post hasnt seen the classics

By: Drake

05.06.2014 @ 12:00 AM

Well, the article was about how Matt Smith is going to be in the next Terminator movie. I haven’t seen Terminator, but I’m a fan of Smith’s. And I’d say this is less of a geek site and more of a general pop culture site. It’s not like Drew only reviews fantasy movies. If I hadn’t seen Star Wars or Psycho then, sure, you could say I haven’t seen the classics, but I don’t know if Terminator is considered a classic of cinema throughout the general public. In the niche that fantasy films were in the 80’s and 90’s, sure, it’s a classic of that genre, but this site doesn’t just focus on those.

By: Mark

05.06.2014 @ 1:55 PM

We DO know that this one will be a pale shadow of the first two. Alan Taylor is in nowhere near the same league of filmaking as James Cameron. If you had seen the first two you’d understand that Drake. Do yourself a favour and go watch them, there’s a reason they’re classics.

By: Drake

05.06.2014 @ 8:04 PM

Mark, I do plan on watching them eventually, probably before this one comes out. I agree that Taylor’s not that great at doing these kind of blockbusters (he’s pretty great on a smaller scale, his work on several cable drama series have been great). But Avatar has made me wary of Cameron’s movies.

By: mmcb105

05.02.2014 @ 7:44 PM

The original tagline for Skynet was “Doesn’t Lose Suction.”

By: mmcb105

05.02.2014 @ 7:53 PM

I like that they are bringing time-travel back into the franchise, but I think this whole story-line-running-concurrently-to-the-first-movie idea might play a little too much like fansturbation. And regardless of that, we may run into some huge logic problems when this film runs too close to the first.

Are we going to have a bunch of scenes where one terminator is trying desperately to stop the original Kyle Reese or some other character/event that happens in the first movie, only to be fought back by Old-Arnie-Terminator? I feel like that would be kind of annoying and obvious.

This does feel more interesting than it could have been, but I’m still not a hundred percent this needed to happen in the franchise.

By: TDS-Matt

05.03.2014 @ 1:52 AM

I’ve heard the third time period is 2017, which makes me wonder if that’s where they’re setting up “New Judgment Day” to take place. Maybe Matt’s involved with this film’s version of Skynet?

By: TDS-Matt

05.03.2014 @ 1:55 AM

(Replying because I can’t edit as I’m too lazy to register and Connect with Facebook isn’t working for me…)

I also find it funny that the film seems to be built around “No fate but what we make,” as that was never part of John’s message in the original film.

By: American Jedi

05.05.2014 @ 10:15 AM

Hmm. Matt Smith’s addition doesn’t necessarily change my outlook on this but the clear shift in Drew’s tone does. Personally, I’ve had Terminator fatigue for a long time now and I think Drew’s earlier, skeptical pieces about this movie were right on the money. But it’s obvious he’s read the script now and he seems more open to the possibility that they might pull off a film worth watching. Now I’m a little more curious about what they’re up to.